


Rebirth

by RaeDMagdon



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-03-16
Updated: 2012-04-16
Packaged: 2017-11-02 01:32:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaeDMagdon/pseuds/RaeDMagdon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Fix-It" Fic that takes place after the final battle of Mass Effect 3, "destroy" ending. Liara/Shepard pairing, a little Miranda/Jack</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> To show my dissatisfaction with the ending of ME3. My mood improved when I got the small cinematic showing Shepard taking a breath, but I still wasn't satisfied. So here's MY ending.
> 
> PS: Wow, LOTS of fics popping up with Liara pregnant recently... didn't copy any of them, I think it's just a popular direction to take fanfic these days...

_There was a great trembling._

_The wave of devouring light grew louder and higher, gathering, gathering. Static and electricity crackled around her hands, shooting up her arms in fiery lines of white pain and making her entire body shake, but she didn't let go._

_She was used to mental pulses, from Liara and also the Prothean beacons she had encountered, but this wasn't a 'pulse' so much as an explosion that ripped the fabric of the sky and roared in her ears until all she could hear was white static. In a hazy, disconnected way, she realized her sound suppressors had kicked in, but it didn't seem to matter._

_In some other awareness, she was screaming, but there was no chance that she or anyone else would hear it. She screamed until everything exploded outward, and the red haze settled in her mind._

_The rumbling stopped._

_Black tendrils congealed around the edges of her mind, but this time, wherever her mind went, they dissolved into mist like shadows running from the light of a candle. She did not feel the electricity anymore, but the light grew brighter and brighter, from a candle to a flashlight's beam to the headlight of a tank to a large, glowing orb that grew and grew until it was the size of a star, and it kept growing._

_She watched the shadows retreating, retreating, until the light was so large and powerful that it hurt, and her body and mind screamed with pain. Instead of everything going black when she lost consciousness, she disappeared into a painful ocean of whiteness..._

. . .

"Shepard?"

The voice seemed to be coming from far away.

"Shepard..." She knew that voice. Her eyes tried to open, but they felt so heavy...

"Love..."

Finally, she managed to open her eyes a crack and allow in a sliver of light. She saw white, and a blue blur, but something about the shade was familiar. "Liara," she croaked, the sides of her throat lighting up with pain.

"Rest. Your synthetic parts suffered a lot of damage after..."

Liara wasn't sure how to describe 'after'. The devouring red beam of light had almost killed her, knocking her through the wall of a building and conjuring up a cloud of choking dust. Only a well-timed biotic shield had saved her life. It had taken her two days to wake up. Shepard's recovery had taken over a month more.

Aside from the damage she had suffered during the approach to the beam, the organic parts of her body had not been in un-savable shape. It was the synthetic pieces that had been completely or near-completely destroyed. All of them had needed to be replaced. A new heart and repaired blood vessels that had exploded during the demise of the first Normandy and reconstructed at Cerberus simply shut down, and she had required a completely new left leg from below the knee. Liara was amazed Shepard's brain had survived the trauma intact, although Cerberus had reinforced the bone around her skull with some extra plating. Two near-scrapes with death, and most of her neural functioning remained unimpaired, although her lower spine had suffered some heavy damage and the tissue in her extremities had needed extensive repair due to oxygen starvation.

"Af - ter..." Shepard said, still finding it difficult to speak.

"I don't know exactly what happened after, I was unconscious at the time, but something sent out a cease and desist command to the Reapers, because all of them shut down. The soldiers have been burning them, taking them completely apart so they don't repair themselves somehow. A few were saved for study, against many protests – only bits and pieces. Some of the metal from the others will be useful for rebuilding."

Liara suddenly realized that she was being extremely scientific, and Shepard didn't deserve that. Not at this moment. "Well, you've died twice now, Commander," she said, her own voice breaking as she reached out to touch Shepard's cheek. "You must be very determined to see all those little blue children you keep telling me about."

Shepard tried to laugh, but all that came out was a hoarse groan. "Liara..." she tried to say again. Hearing the three words – two, technically – that Shepard had spoken as excellent progress, considering she had been essentially dead and then unconscious for the better part of five weeks.

"At least it didn't take two years this time. Miranda remembered enough about the Lazarus project to help save you. She wanted me to tell you she did put a "different" chip in your brain, whatever that means, and it probably saved your life."

Shepard was too tired to make a quip about mind control, but her brain thought it, and that was amazing enough to her as it was.

"It sent out the command to keep all oxygenated blood going to your brain and heart, to prevent atrophy and give the medics time to find you. In her opinion, the rest could be repaired or replaced. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, there were plenty of casualties to match with your blood type. You've received almost as many organ transplants as medals. Oh no, I'm getting scientific again..."

Although it was a great struggle, Shepard managed to lift her hand slightly, reaching out towards Liara's. The asari took the hint and gripped her hand gently. That simple touch spoke far more than words as Shepard's eyes closed again.

. . .

Shepard's recovery was not a simple process.

More often than not she was surrounded by a team of doctors, and most of the time she was kept under heavy sedation. She underwent several more surgeries, including one to replace her missing foot, which itched terribly. All of the procedures left her feeling depleted in the rare moments she was awake. Liara was always there. In the few quiet minutes they were spared, Liara took the opportunity to meld with Shepard and gently go over some of her memories of the Reapers. It was important, not just so the Alliance could know what happened up in the Citadel, which had almost been completely destroyed, but so that Shepard could begin to process the things she had seen, things no human should ever see.

Liara had gasped and nearly pulled out of Shepard's mind when she discovered the choice that her lover had been forced to make, and the price that the AI on the Citadel had asked her to pay. Shepard had walked towards the right chair expecting to sacrifice herself for the future of all organic life in the universe. At the time, she had thought Liara was dead to her forever. _"But I survived. You survived. Life won, and the cycle is broken."_

Shepard was too emotionally exhausted to consider any alternative. The AI had said that the peace would not last, but she couldn't believe that. Not now. Not after all the lives that had been lost trying to win this future for the next generation.

On the fourth visit, Liara finally revealed something that Shepard had been too scared to ask about. "What happened to everyone?"

"Define everyone," Liara said.

"My squad, first of all."

"Tali'zorah has been travelling back and forth between this hospital room and what remains of the quarian fleet in Earth's orbit. She wishes you well, and has been a comfort to me. Ashley is in a room not far from here, very upset that she has not been able to visit you because of her injuries. She went down fighting under a swarm of corrupted asari... you stopped the Reapers just in time. I am sorry to say that James perished trying to pull her out. He wouldn't leave her to die."

Shepard was not the type to play favorites, but there were still so many names unaccounted for, so many unanswered questions. "Garrus? What happened to Garrus?"

"Garrus's body has not been recovered, but – he helped try and push me out of the way just before the Reaper beam descended upon us. The push caused me to put up my biotic shield on instinct, I suppose, and it saved my life when I came down from the forty or so feet that I was sent up in the air. I only remember the fall and red light filling the sky and my head."

Shepard's face paled. She felt regret, regret that she had picked Garrus as one of her squadmates, but like she had told the turian before battle, as a soldier, she just wasn't Shepard without Vakarian by her side. She suddenly realized that she had also taken Liara along, and had unknowingly put the asari in danger.

"What about my crew? Joker? EDI? The ones on the ship?" When the asari's face fell, she knew that she would not like the answer.

"We don't know."

'We don't know' was better than 'dead', but not by much.

"What do you mean?"

"Shepard, you know the Mass Relays were destroyed. The Normandy travelled through one of them before all Alliance signals went offline, but we don't know if they made it to the other side, or have a way of going to look for them."

The depth of what she had done struck Shepard like a blow in the chest. It had been necessary for survival, but the thought that the Mass Relays were completely gone, that all inter-galactic travel was cut off, was terrifying. They were basically stranded.

"Not stranded," Liara said, picking up on Shepard's thoughts through the near-constant mental link that they had established. The Commander's thoughts had been so strong that she had felt them in herself as well. "We have the technology, particularly now that the Reapers are destroyed. We will rebuild them, and when we do, I promise we can try and find out what happened to them. It is unlikely, but possible that they survived and landed somewhere habitable. It might take time, decades perhaps, but rebuilding the Mass Relays is far from impossible. And now, time is something we have."

"Free time isn't something I'm used to," Shepard said, unable to keep the exhaustion from her voice. She was actually glad that the doctors kept her under most of the time, because sitting in a bed for months probably would have driven her insane. "I thought we never fully understood how they worked..."

"We understood less than we would have liked, but enough. Perhaps the technology that we took from the Reapers will do some good after all. The Mass Relays were their design, their technology."

"What if Garrus was on that ship? The Normandy was close, within Earth's atmosphere during the final battle..."

Liara held Shepard's gaze with sad eyes. "There is no way to tell, Shepard. Javik is missing as well. But I would not hold out hope. There are still many bodies to be identified. And even if they did make it back to the Normandy somehow, the ship may have been destroyed when it tried to pass through the Mass Relay."

"Do you really think we can rebuild them? Perhaps this seems inconsequential after dealing with a threat like the Reapers, but it's hard to imagine a world without travel between systems."

"I believe we can. Every species here wants to return to their homeworlds. That is impossible without the Mass Relays."

Shepard took several moments to respond. "Liara... what the child, the AI, said... do you think it's true? Will our children create synthetics and begin the cycle again?"

"The asari are very long-lived, Shepard. Thessia might have been destroyed, but we will remember, and our daughters will remember. Do I know whether this peace will last forever? No. It is impossible to know. But we will not forget this story, your story. It is a warning as much as it is a part of our history."

The doctor kept her private thoughts to herself, her hope that Shepard would have a similarly long lifespan if they could invest in ways to keep her organic tissue healthy and alive. The synthetic parts of her body would easily last or be replaceable.

"When you say 'we' and 'our daughters', do you mean the asari as a species, or the two of us?"

"Yes."

"Which?"

"Both."

To her surprise, Shepard felt herself begin to cry. The answer reminded her of Legion, and images of his death by Tali's hands flooded her memory. She supposed the question of his people was part of the giant question that this entire war had been fought for: 'does this unit have a soul?' She didn't know whether synthetics and organics could possibly carve out a life together without controlling each other or killing each other, but she knew they had to try.

"Since the topic has been brought up, I have something to show you, Shepard... if you'll let me. I am not certain, but I think it will please you."

Those words caused Legion's death to be replaced by a much more pleasant memory, the memory of standing among the stars with Liara and watching that bright beam of light break over the horizon as they kissed. It was one of the few good, beautiful things she had clung to when she had to make the inevitable choice. She had no way of knowing it, but that memory was directly attached to what Liara wanted to show her now.

"All you have to do is close your eyes."

. . .

 _Instead of standing on a starry plain, she found herself somewhere warm and dark. She was not afraid, but comforted by wherever she was, and she was aware of a gentle, constant thumping that soothed her. There was also a gentle hiss and rush of sound that moved around her, and it reminded her of ocean waves lapping at the shore._

_There was life, bursting and beautiful life, all around her, and she drew strength from it._

_She felt Liara within her mind, and that sensation was pleasant, but familiar. It was something else, something alien that also probed at her mind, which surprised her. That 'something else' was Liara, a part of Liara. It felt like Liara. But it was not Liara._

_How something could be and could not be Liara at the same time confused Shepard at first. They seemed to contradict each other. But then she understood with a brilliant flash of clarity._

_This presence in her mind, a presence that was purely love and no words, was not Liara. It was her child. Their child._

_"When?" she asked in the darkness._

_"My gift before the final battle. I should have been more clear, but there wasn't time, and... Selfishly, I wanted something of you to keep if you perished. It gave me a reason to stay alive, and if the whole universe was destroyed, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. At least, that's what I thought then. I was wrong."_

. . .

When Shepard's awareness of herself returned, she felt strangely lighter, but also very confused. That such beautiful new life could be born from such destruction was incomprehensible, frightening, and wonderful. "The beam of light that broke over us..." she mumbled, leaning forward slightly from her sitting position and putting her hand on Liara's abdomen, which did not seem any different than normal.

"The creation of a new life that almost never was. But she is alive. I am alive. And you are alive, barely. It is more than we expected, but I am grateful anyway."

"It's been over two months since the Reapers were defeated. Why couldn't I tell?"

"How could you? We have been melding mostly within your mind, to examine your memories. Of course you didn't notice."

Shepard corrected herself. "I meant physically."

Liara smiled. "Shepard, you are thinking like a human. I believe human pregnancies only last nine standard months?"

"More or less..."

"Asari children require much more time to form. This isn't so surprising, considering our lifespans. It is not that long," Liara added when she saw the look of horror on Shepard's face. "Don't worry, you will not have to deal with a pregnant bondmate for decades, but it should take a little over two years."

The Commander was stunned. "I'm not sure whether to be jealous for humans because, compared to your lifespans, the asari have such short pregnancies, or to be terrified that, compared to our lifespans, you have such long ones."

Since they were sharing secrets now, Liara decided to divulge another. "To be honest, no one has been able to put an estimated lifespan on you, Shepard. For all we know, your synthetic parts, your biotics, and all of the genetic and hormonal therapy you have been undergoing could help sustain your body's function for hundreds of years, or..."

"Or something could go wrong and I could die tomorrow," Shepard said, able to voice the thought that Liara could not.

"Truly, there is no way of knowing when any of us will die. I believe there is a relevant passage in a human book called the Bible? 'We know not the day, nor the hour...'"

Liara was right. There was no telling when the universe would end, or if it would ever end, or if time was even something that could be measured. There was no way to know when or how they would die, either. But for now, they had this. Shepard was in the unique position of being faced with her own mortality and also what felt like immortality, having been brought back from the dead twice within a relatively short period. It made those words resonate with her all the more.

She suddenly realized that, by taking Liara on the final mission, she had put the mother of her unborn child in danger. She was shocked that the fall had not killed their daughter and ended Liara's pregnancy. Perhaps it took time for the gamete cells – or whatever equivalent asari used – to imprint and become a zygote, just like human eggs were never fertilized immediately, but the thought still chilled her.

"We'll need a name."

"And it will probably have a lot of vowels," Shepard said, thinking of all the asari names she had heard. "I actually like Aria, because it's a little like your name and it is also a type of human song, but T'Loak kind of ruined that for me."

The asari frowned. "Aria and I have had a few... colorful interactions with each other. Now that you mention it, I wonder if she survived. She is resourceful, it is possible she left the Citadel before it came under Reaper control."

"I'm more concerned about my crew than T'Loak. She was kind of a bitch. An amusing bitch, but a bitch."

Another memory, this time of Tali very drunk and muttering _'Keelah, she was a bitch,'_ in reference to Miranda Lawson made her remember something else.

"I know Miranda's alive... I've been aware of her." She recalled a few blurry moments seeing the ex-Cerberus operative's face hovering over hers. "I'm surprised she hasn't stopped by for a longer chat."

"She has been very busy trying to acquire... parts... for your rebirth. The Alliance has given her unlimited funding. They think that if she could do it once, she and her team can do it again. Including salarian and asari scientists this time only made the process faster. Apparently, confining your staff to one species weeds out some of the best minds."

Thinking about Miranda brought another person to mind almost immediately. "Jack? What about Jack and her students?"

"Unfortunately, they were part of Hammer. The majority of them died. I believe she and a few others managed to fight until you brought down the Reapers. Jack survived mostly in-tact, but at what emotional cost, I am not sure. She has remarkable survival abilities. Your friend Kasumi has also been by to see you. Now that you are awake more often, maybe you will actually be able to speak with them. Tali and Miranda have been at your side almost as much as me, but you never seem to wake up except when we're alone. All of us want you to recover."

Reverting to her training because thinking about the individual deaths and the staggering number of losses was far too painful, Shepard tried to take stock of everything in her head. "We lost James, probably Garrus and Javik... EDI, Joker, and my crew are missing God knows where in space..." her heart cracked as she recited the names. "But you, Ashley, Miranda, Tali, and Jack are still around. I saw Anderson die myself. What about Urdnot Wrex? Grunt?"

"Apparently, krogan are not easy to destroy," Liara said. "They both live, but are furious at being stranded on earth, especially Wrex. There is no way to communicate with Tuchanka at the moment, and he can only hope that Urdnot Bakara has been able to keep the clans united. For now, they are rebuilding here."

Shepard ran through any other names she might have missed. "Zaeed?"

"Alive. He dropped in once, but I believe hospitals and authority of any type make him remarkably uncomfortable."

The Commander had no idea whether she was glad that bastard was alive, since they did have a camaraderie if not a strong friendship, or furious that someone so immoral had lived while Garrus probably hadn't. Of all the deaths Liara had reported, that one hurt the most, even more than Kaidan's. She felt as if she had sent the Turian to his death just as she had left Kaidan to die on Virmire.

"None of this is good or fair. None of it makes any sense... If I had lost you, both of you..."

Shepard reached out, trying to pull the asari sitting on the edge of the bed into an awkward, slightly painful embrace. Liara urged her to lie back and reclined next to her, putting an arm behind Shepard's head and gently resting her other hand on the human's breastbone.

"We are here. When the time is right, we will remember those that fell and live for them. But we are alive, and all of that is thanks to you."

But Shepard did not want thanks, recognition, or anything at all. She wanted Earth to be whole. She wanted Thessia to be inhabited by asari again, not simply a pile of rubble. And she wanted Garrus and her other squadmates to be alive. But wishing wouldn't bring back the dead – except, perhaps, her. And even though she was grateful, even though holding Liara in her arms was just beginning to heal some of the pain, she had to wonder why she had been brought back to life when so many others had died. Logically, she understood that the Alliance wanted their hero, that this was their way of trying to pay her back for everything she had "accomplished", but none of them seemed to realize that she had not accomplished it alone. Others had died for the same goal, and no amount of science or prayers would bring them back.


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on, Shepard. Think you can open those dark, dashing eyes for me this time?"

The Commander groaned, squinting up into the false, sterile white light that she had become accustomed to. A beautiful, familiar face hovered above her, but although Miranda Lawson was a welcome sight, Shepard did not appreciate being woken up before her body was ready. "Ugh... Miranda."

"Ugh? After everything we've been through together, all you have to say to me is 'ugh'?" The ex-Cerberus operative clutched the place above her left breast, pretending to be wounded. Such exaggerated gestures were not usually Miranda's style, but she seemed to be in a cheerful mood.

"Was sleeping," Shepard explained, blinking the sleep from her eyes. "Liara? Where's Liara?"

Miranda sighed. "I guess I don't even rate a 'hello, thanks for fixing me up'. Your bondmate is guarding the door. You've got other visitors waiting outside. A lot of them."

Slowly, and with a good deal of effort, Shepard began to lift herself into a sitting position. Noticing what her former Commander was doing, Miranda hurried to help. "Here, use the pillow. Take it easy, that body isn't ready for anything strenuous yet."

"Who is waiting outside?" Shepard asked.

"The Suicide Squad – or what's left of us. We've stuck together as much as we could since the defeat of the Reapers. Tali is handling some business on the Flotilla, she'll be down to visit in another hour or two." Miranda paused, her thoughts obviously weighed down by heavy emotions she couldn't express easily. "Ashley isn't happy that I've been hanging around. I think she's jealous of me, actually... she isn't used to sharing you with another human woman."

Shepard burst out laughing. "What? I'm surrounded by female squadmembers, and if Ashley were to be jealous of anyone, wouldn't it be Liara? Tali? Even Jack or Garrus..." Her throat constricted as she remembered that Garrus wasn't with them anymore – she still did not want to admit that he was probably dead.

"I represent her mistake in not trusting you after Horizon. She's worried I'll steal you away again, just like I did before."

Deciding that Ashley's dislike of Miranda was a problem for later, Shepard leaned back against the pillow behind her. Arching one eyebrow, she glanced towards the closed door. She had to admit that it would be nice to see her room full of friends instead of doctors for a change. "Well?"

Miranda started towards the door, but stopped when she saw it open from the other side, revealing a smiling Liara. "There are several visitors out here who wish to see you, Shepard. Shall I let them in?"

"Move, T'soni! You're blocking my view! I wanna see if Shepard has any new scars." His bulky frame nearly filling the doorway, Urdnot Grunt lumbered into the room, followed by a trail of familiar figures. Jack, Kasumi, Jacob, Zaeed, and Samara were all there. Even though Garrus' absence stung and she wished she did not have to wait until later to see Tali, Shepard's smile grew wider as she recognized each face. They all crowded around her, and she felt a warm hand grip her shoulder.

"Thought you'd enjoy this," Miranda said, giving the shoulder she was touching a squeeze. "Your doctors made a fuss over it, but luckily, I'm the project director. I can do whatever the hell I want." On the other side of her bed, Liara began a light massage along the back of Shepard's neck. The asari didn't seem to mind that Miranda was also touching Shepard, she was happy to see her bondmate happy. Their minds brushed briefly, acknowledging each other's presence and their connection.

"All right, time for hugs," Shepard said. "Just try not to break anything."

"They'd better not," Miranda muttered. "Your body's worth a fortune now, almost as much as mine... probably more, now that I think about it, since you're a hero and all."

"A big goddamn hero," Zaeed crowed, grabbing one of the empty chairs near the bed and turning it around backwards, positioning it near the edge of Shepard's bed and straddling it. "I thought you were out of your bloody mind when you started this whole thing, but you saw it through. Damned impressive."

"I was out of my mind when you started this whole thing," Jack said. Shepard couldn't help noticing that the powerful biotic seemed much more somber than usual. Instead of her usual aggressive, confrontational attitude, her body language seemed almost... defeated. "I blew up a lot of stuff under your watch."

"I remember," Shepard said. "We're lucky it was mostly bad guys. Hey, Jack... Liara told me. About your kids."

"That little shit Rodriguez made it out mostly in one piece. Prangley didn't. Son of a bitch went down hard. Took out more of those mutated Turian things than I could count." For a split second, Shepard thought she saw Jack blink back tears, but decided not to draw attention to it. For her friend's sake, she glanced around for something else to focus her attention on.

"Kasumi, what are you doing?"

The thief, who had seemed as pleased as everyone else to see Shepard on her arrival, was currently lounging against one wall near the top of the line life support machines Shepard no longer needed. "What?" she asked, feeling the eyes of everyone else on her. "Habit. What kind of thief would I be if I didn't stand near the most expensive things in the room?"

"The kind that wants to make a new start after her complete pardon by the Alliance," Liara pointed out. She noticed that Samara was watching Kasumi closely, and she wanted to avoid an altercation. "Your work on the Crucible got you a blank check, Kasumi, but that doesn't mean you should steal from hospitals."

"I'm not that immoral," the thief grumbled. "Credits and tech are different than life saving medical equipment, even if it isn't being used anymore..."

"Thank God for that," Jacob said. He had hung back at first, a little unsure of himself around the others, but felt his confidence return as he saw Shepard conscious, stable, and interacting with her former squadmates – and, as impossible as it seemed, alive. "I saw you after you first came in... You looked like death, Shepard. I thought you were going to fall into a hundred pieces."

"She was dead," Miranda said. "Multiple times. We resuscitated her."

Liara's hand tightened almost painfully on the back of her neck, and Shepard flinched. Miranda might have been stating facts, but they weren't facts that her pregnant, upset bondmate needed to hear aloud. "Can we forget that part for now?" Shepard asked, a note of pleading in her voice.

Jacob shuddered. "I'll never forget it. I don't think any of us will ever forget what happened that day."

"Jacob, you are upsetting Liara," Samara pointed out gently. "It is not good for the child."

That got the group's attention. Everyone in the room except for the Justicar stared at Liara with the same wide-eyed, slack-jawed expression. Even Miranda abandoned her usual air of dignity. Then, as a unit, they all turned to look at Shepard. The Commander resisted the impulse to hold her hands up in a defensive posture.

"You," Miranda pointed at Shepard, "got her," he pointed at Liara, "pregnant in the middle of a Reaper invasion?"

Jack smirked, resuming a little of her old bravado. "Couldn't keep it in your pants, huh, Shep?"

"I didn't know!" Shepard said, trying to defend herself.

"How do you not know something like that?" Jacob asked, still reeling from shock. His own child with Brynn was due in a few months, and from what he could remember about how he or she was conceived, he had definitely been an active participant.

"And I thought krogan were obsessed with making babies no matter what the cost," Grunt muttered.

"Do not blame Shepard," Liara said. "The pregnancy was my responsibility and my choice. She only just found out a day and a half ago."

Samara gave the younger asari a look that spoke volumes. Obviously, she understood far more about the situation than the others, being an asari herself, and could guess why Liara had chosen to imprint Shepard's genetic material before the final battle. "You will need to be monitored closely, since you are only one hundred and nine. Most asari don't even consider reproducing until their matron stage."

"Most asari only pursue casual relationships until their matron stage, or don't pursue them at all. I am in a unique position. The stages are arbitrary anyway..."

"How long until mini-Shepard is running around and kicking ass?" Jack asked, looking slightly more cheerful. "Considering who her parents are, I bet she'll be one hell of a talented biotic."

Shepard groaned slightly as she remembered just how long asari pregnancies lasted relative to human ones. "Not any time soon," she said. "Apparently, asari babies take a while."

"Don't say anything to anyone else," Liara urged, glancing around at the dumbfounded and excited group. "I am given to understand that, for all their professions of emotional detachment, soldiers are terrible gossips, and earth is currently home to a lot of them."

"Not by choice," Grunt muttered darkly. "Wrex is already having trouble controlling some of his warriors. They know the genophage is cured and want to get back to Tuchanka, Mass Relays or no Mass Relays."

Zaeed rolled his eyes. "Horny bastards. Even at FTL speeds, it'd take ages."

"I sympathize," Samara said quietly. "Not all of Thessia was lost to the Reapers. If the Mass Relays were functional, I would have gone to help with the rebuilding effort."

Liara abandoned her seat on the edge of Shepard's bed. "The Mass Relays will be rebuilt. The salarians are already working on a solution, but for the time being, all the species confined to the Sol system will have to make the best of it. I want our daughter to see Thessia someday."

As the shock of Liara's news began to wear off, everyone started asking questions at once.

"Thought of any names yet?"

"Maybe she'll be a Huntress or a Commando?"

"She's an asari, but considering who her father is, maybe she'll be the first to join the Alliance Navy?"

"Not the Navy. Bunch of goody two-shoes," Zaeed muttered.

"Better than Cerberus," Jacob pointed out.

Shepard sighed. "Why are you so convinced she'll be a warrior? I'd prefer another archaeologist in the family."

That made Liara smile. Her hand returned to the back of Shepard's neck. "I have to admit that a nice, quiet, studious daughter might be preferable, but somehow I doubt we will be so lucky." She exchanged a glance with her bondmate. "I will be proud of her either way."

"Mothers hang many hopes on their daughters," Samara offered. "Those hopes can be a source of great pain and great joy."

Absentmindedly, Liara draped a hand over her stomach. There was no distinguishable swell yet, but she knew that the shape would change soon. "You miss Falere," she said, keeping her voice low.

"I miss all three of my daughters. I worry about Falere more, since Rila and Mirala have found peace in the embrace of the Goddess."

Shepard sighed. "Let's pray that no more mothers will outlive their children now that this war is over."

. . .

"Shepard!" Tali crowed as she ran into the room, throwing her arms around the bedridden human and hugging her for all she was worth. Miranda kept a watchful eye over her patient, but knew that trying to stop the quarian was useless. She was content to remain leaning against the wall, a silent sentinel.

"Shh," Shepard said, trying not to show any pain as her friend squeezed her. "Liara's asleep."

Tali immediately lowered her voice and turned the mask of her envirosuit towards the sleeping asari, who was curled up like a cat in the seat of a large, comfortable chair that she had purloined from another building. If she was going to watch over Shepard during her recovery, Liara had stated, she deserved a comfortable chair, especially after helping to save the universe.

"I hear she's expecting? What is wrong with you, Shepard? Giving birth is dangerous enough without conceiving in the middle of a Reaper invasion."

Shepard knew a fair bit about alien physiology, and she remembered that quarian births were particularly traumatic. It was one reason that the one-child law was not too much of a hardship. "Who told you that?" she asked. "It's true, but don't spread it around. The last thing we need on top of all our other problems is gossip about the baby."

"Grunt, believe it or not. I ran in to him on the way into the hospital. She doesn't look pregnant yet," the quarian noted, examining Liara while she slept.

"Oh, she's pregnant all right," Shepard mumbled, remembering the vivid way in which Liara had allowed her to experience their daughter's existence.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Tali teased.

The Commander blushed. "I'm sure Shepard didn't mean it like that," Miranda whispered. She too cast a glance at the still slumbering asari. "She definitely doesn't look one hundred and nine, either. I'm given to understand that she is awfully young to be having a child," she observed.

"I'm excited about it," Tali said. "Do you hear that, little one?" she asked in Liara's general direction, amusing Shepard with her cheerful, maternal instinct. "Aunty Tali is going to teach you all sorts of things... How to build an engine, how to program an attack drone, how to hack into any system in the galaxy... I'll be her favorite."

Miranda smiled. "I guess that leaves Aunt Miranda to teach her how to be perfect. God knows you'll be useless at that, Shepard."

"I shudder to think what the others will teach her," Shepard said. She felt her lover stir within her mind, and could tell that Liara was waking up.

"Jack will be the one to teach her how to swear, of that I'm sure," the still sleepy shadow broker said as she lifted her arms above her head in a luxurious stretch. Shepard's eyes could not tear themselves away from her breasts no matter how hard she tried.

"And possibly how to womanize," Miranda mumbled. For a moment, Shepard wondered exactly what the relationship between the ex-Cerberus operative and the former convict was, but decided not to ask.

Tali gave Miranda a sideways look. "Shepard, there is something I need to speak with you about..." The Commander raised her eyebrows and lifted herself up slightly from her seated position on the bed. "They have still not recovered Garrus's body. Joker, Javik, EDI, and the rest of the crew are also missing."

"I don't want to give you any false hope, Tali," Shepard said. "I saw that Reaper beam come down on us... I was sure it had blown my team apart when I went up to the Citadel. I'm shocked it didn't kill Liara or..." She didn't even want to think about the possibility of losing their daughter before she was even born.

She couldn't be sure because of the visor of her suit, but Shepard sensed a flash of pain in Tali's eyes. "Before the final battle, Garrus and I... well, you know. You saw." The quarian sighed. "I know he might be dead. We didn't even get a chance to really explore what might have been. I thought he was in love with you for so long... _Keelah_ , I was half in love with you myself. I think most of your crew was... even the Justicar had a soft spot for you." She shot a nervous glance at Liara, who only smiled and rubbed her abdomen contentedly.

"It's all right, Tali. I might be slightly awkward in social situations, but I am not completely oblivious. I am aware that Shepard is... intriguing to almost everyone she meets. I'm flattered she chose me."

Miranda blushed. She wouldn't admit it aloud, but she had to concede – if only to herself – that she had a somewhat uncomfortable attraction to Shepard. The woman was almost like an asari. Everyone she met, no matter the species, seemed to show an interest. Then, Miranda's personal life had become even more complicated with the introduction of another, much crazier woman that she still wasn't entirely sure how to handle.

"If there is any chance that he is alive, I have to try and find him, find all of them," Tali continued. "We need to try and make contact with other systems anyway if we are going to survive. The turians and quarians will run out of digestible food eventually."

Shepard squeezed the lower half of Tali's arm through her suit. "Do you think you can wait a little while? I'd like to go with you. I'm still the Commander of the Normandy, after all. It's my job to make sure all my people get safely home."

"What about..." Miranda aimed a glance at Liara's midsection.

"I have a feeling Liara will want to come along... _We'll talk about it later,"_ she added silently within her lover's mind.

 _"Yes, we will,"_ Liara sent back. She was slightly annoyed, but not surprised by Shepard's desire to leave the hospital and go out searching for her crew. Hopefully, she could convince her lover that her body was nowhere near ready for space travel or command of a ship. Perhaps she could sweet-talk Shepard into coordinating Tali's mission from Earth. If Shepard was determined to go, however, Liara knew that she wouldn't want to be anywhere else but by her side.

"I'm staying out of this one," Tali said, holding up her hands. "I just wanted to let you know what my plans were."

Miranda frowned. "You've got a lot more resting to do before you can fly anywhere, Shepard. It's a good idea, though, Tali. If Joker managed to get the rest of the crew to safety, we need to find them."

. . .

"We still need a name for baby blue, you know," Shepard said once they were alone, one arm wrapped around Liara's shoulders. The asari's head was resting on her chest, careful to avoid most of the bandages. She had only been coaxed into that position after much pleading from Shepard. Then again, Shepard was very good at coaxing her into any position she wanted, Liara recalled with a smirk.

"I hope you are over Aria, Shepard. Of all the people to name our child after, Aria T'Loak is possibly the last ally of ours I would pick."

Shepard rolled her eyes above Liara's head. The Shadow Broker had never been fond of Omega's pirate queen, even though she had revealed the location of Shepard's body to Liara after the destruction of the first Normandy and spared her from the Collectors. "I told you, it has nothing to do with her. I just like the sound of the name. What about Benezia?"

"I appreciate your attempts to accommodate me, Shepard, but I am not sure I wish to name our first daughter after my mother. I know it has been almost three years now, but the memories are still too... raw. Maybe the next one."

The Spectre swallowed nervously to work some moisture into her suddenly dry mouth. She was still getting used to the idea of having a child at all – thinking about more when the first one wasn't even born yet was a little too much to handle at once. "Well, we can't name her after a member of our crew," Shepard said.

"Why not?"

"Well, because Kaidan, Thane, and... and Garrus are terrible names for an asari. No way could I pick Ashley, Miranda, Jack, or Tali, because whichever one I picked would upset the others. I don't really want to name her after Jack anyway, no need to encourage bad behavior."

Liara lifted her head just enough to brush a kiss beneath Shepard's chin. "You don't know that Garrus is dead yet. He is very resourceful. Perhaps he made it onto the Normandy as Tali hoped."

"We don't even know if the Normandy survived..."

"If Joker got it out of the Sol system before the Mass Relay exploded, he survived. That man can land anywhere."

Shepard sighed. "I have to go look for them, Liara. You know that. I would rather you didn't come with me, because I don't want to put you or our daughter in any kind of danger, but I also know I can't stop you."

"I believe there is yet another relevant passage in the human Bible... from the Book of Ruth. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me."

"I'm impressed. That's the second time you've quoted Scripture to me. You been talking to Ashley?"

Liara smiled. "Yes, but not about the beliefs of various sentient species. Aside from Siari and the various human religions, I am also familiar with the turian spirits, and the ancestor worship of the quarians. I consider myself to be something of an amateur anthropologist as well as an archaeologist. Studying dead religions inspired me to learn more about the surviving ones. I must admit that, after meeting Javik, I find myself viewing the hanar religion in a different light."

"You're not amateur at anything, Liara. By the way, since we're talking about Ashley –"

"- since you brought up Ashley several sentences ago," Liara corrected.

"- Since I mentioned Ashley, when can I go visit her? What are we going to do about her and Miranda? I should probably tell her we're going to have a daughter before Grunt spills the beans again."

The asari sat up on the hospital bed, missing the warmth of Shepard's body, but needing to stretch. "Spills the... oh, another human idiom. I assume you mean before he lets Ashley in on the secret. Not that it's really a secret anymore. If the Mass Relay buoys weren't shut down, I would expect the news to be all over the extranet by now. I admit that when I imagined what it would be like to have a bondmate and a child growing up, I never expected my partner or my reproductive choices to be of any interest to the galactic community at large."

Shepard groaned. "For now, it's bad enough having the rest of my squad sticking their noses in our business..."

"Be honest, Shepard. You wouldn't have it any other way." Liara looked down at her stomach. "This child is going to have more non-biologically related "relatives" than any young asari I've ever seen."

"I can picture it. Not that I want our daughter to be a soldier, but I'm sure Ashley will be teaching her how to use a "boomstick" as soon as she's old enough."

Liara appeared horrified. "Perhaps it is a good thing that asari pregnancies are relatively long... at least it gives me a few years to get used to the idea. I don't like the idea of her holding a gun."

"Would you rather have her not know how to use one, Miss Lift 'Em Up And Shoot 'Em?"

"No," Liara sighed. "I suppose it isn't all that different from training her to use her biotic abilities. That will be my job, I think, unless Samara wants to help."

"What will I teach her, then? If you teach her biotics, Ashley teaches her how to shoot, Grunt teaches her how to smash things, Tali teaches her how to hack systems, and Jack shows her how to blow things up, what's left for me?"

Liara stood up, bending over to kiss the top of Shepard's head. "That's easy, Shepard," she said, caressing the side of the human's right arm affectionately. "You'll teach her how not to die in impossible situations. You're a master at that. Isn't there a relevant human idiom about cats and nine lives?"

"I thought you didn't like idioms."

"They are... colorful. Try and get some rest, love. I'm going to see if Miranda can arrange for you to visit with Ashley later today." The doctor did a quick check of her clothes to make sure that they were not wrinkled or out of place, and headed towards the door. Shepard took a moment to admire the view.

"Ask her about conjugal visits while you're at it!" the Commander called after her.

Liara simply laughed and shook her head. "Wishful thinking, Shepard."


	3. Chapter 3

"How come I was the last one to see you?" Ashley Williams pouted from her wheelchair. Shepard was still not allowed out of her hospital bed, and so Miranda had arranged for Ashley – who was in slightly better shape, but not by a lot – to be wheeled in to her Commander's room for a visit.

"Because you didn't know how to duck," Shepard quipped, trying not to think about Garrus. "What are you, a Turian?"

Still, she heard his voice echo in her head, _"Turians don't know how... but don't worry, I'll improvise."_

"Heh. Laugh it up... I just got out of the damn hospital bed at Huerta before you dragged me to Earth, and now I'm back in one again. Good going."

"Good going...?"

Ashley sighed. "Good going... _ma'am._ Not. So, I hear your girlfriend's got a bun in the oven. Weren't you supposed to marry her first or something?"

That statement terrified Shepard, but also made her feel a little giddy. Fortunately, there was no one around but Ashley to see her embarrassment. She was not afraid of making that kind of commitment to Liara, especially now that they had a child on the way, but the 'hows' and 'wheres' and 'whens' were overwhelming. Shepard didn't really want to think about it. Eloping sounded good – when she was fully recovered, of course. Liara deserved one hell of a wedding night after risking her life so many times, and Shepard knew she couldn't give it to her while she was still an invalid.

"I'm getting a handle on the whole baby thing. I only just found out the day before yesterday."

Ashley's eyes widened. "She didn't tell you? Isn't it a little... creepy that she didn't ask before imprinting your DNA? Kind of like poking holes in a condom or lying about having an implant?" Reflexively, Shepard rubbed the place on her arm where a tiny chip was regulating her hormone levels. It was too small to feel, but she knew it was there. Standard issue for all Alliance Navy. It was amusing that she had an effective form of birth control she didn't even need, and had ended up getting an alien pregnant instead.

Shepard thought about it. For the simple reason that it was Liara, the deception didn't bother her. They had been facing the end of the world, the galaxy, and the universe itself. But it was something that she and Liara needed to discuss later. She was happy that her lover was pregnant this time, but she definitely didn't want her bondmate conceiving again unless she was aware of what was happening.

"We had discussed it prior," Shepard said, and that was a truthful statement, if not the whole truth. "Just not in the moment. Granted, there was a good chance one or both of us would die."

How could she explain to a human, a woman who had never been with an asari, what the melding was like? How all of her hopes, dreams, and fears were an open book to Liara? How they built an entire future together within their minds when they made love? Liara knew Shepard wanted to have children with her. She knew that Shepard was afraid of dying young and leaving Liara behind, although a longer lifespan seemed more and more likely with her partially synthetic body. And since Liara knew all of these things – since she knew Shepard so completely and so intimately – how could the Spectre be mad?

Shepard couldn't blame Liara for being a little selfish, but it was still something that merited a serious discussion later.

"What are you going to name the kid?" Ashley asked.

"No idea," the Commander admitted. "So far, we've only come up with names we don't want to use... I suggested Aria, but Liara shot that down, and she didn't want Benezia either."

Ashley snorted. "Aria is a bitch. Kind of hot, though." She waggled her eyebrows for Shepard's benefit. Shepard shrugged one shoulder in half-agreement. She preferred Liara's more demure facial markings, and there was no matching the shade of blue that was her skin... Shepard shook her head briefly to dispel such thoughts, deciding to list the return of her sexual desires as a check in the 'recovery' column. Now, if she could add a check beside 'get out of bed', her life would improve dramatically.

"Why do I have a feeling you weren't just thinking about Aria?"

Shepard grinned. "You've never been with an asari, Ash. You don't understand. I was going to say, 'they get inside your head', but that's really poor word choice. What I mean is, they make impressions that are impossible to forget."

Ashley's eyes shifted to one side. "I've wondered what it's like, but not enough to go out looking for the experience."

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you've tried it."

"I don't think so, Shepard. I like guys an awful lot, it would take a very special woman to turn my head." Ashley decided not to mention that, so far, Shepard was the only woman who had even remotely interested her. Fortunately, she had gotten over that awkward crush a long time ago. Surprisingly, Garrus had been a good confidante, since he (and almost everyone else on the Normandy) had carried a torch for Shepard at some point during the mission.

"Asari are technically mono-gendered, you know."

Ashley snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh please... if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... Come on, Commander. You've seen what Liara looks like under her lab coat. Look me in the eye and tell me your brain doesn't interpret that as female." Shepard opened and closed her mouth, feeling a little like a goldfish. She was stunned by Ashley's bluntness, but had to admit that she had a point. "It wouldn't work out anyway. I'm not Jack, I can't just jump into bed with someone and out again the next morning like nothing happened."

"Jack might surprise you. She's changed a lot since I first met her."

The Lt. Commander had to admit that descriptions of Jack's extracurriculars had come mostly from Jack herself – and Jack had reason to lie if she didn't want everyone accusing her of going soft and sentimental on them.

"Liara and I would probably even trust her as a babysitter. Granted, she wouldn't be our top choice, since I'd rather not have the kid's first word be 'fuck', but she'd protect our daughter with her life."

Ashley grinned. "I grew up with a bunch of younger sisters, you know. Asari babies can't be that hard to handle. I can change a diaper almost as fast as a magazine."

"Don't tell her this, but you're higher up on the babysitting list than Jack. Liara isn't happy about it, but I think I can sweet talk her into letting you teach the kid how to shoot."

"Better not do it yourself," Ashley laughed. "You're a terrible shot, Shepard."

Shepard sighed, pretending to be wounded. "I save the universe and still get no respect from my subordinates... I've racked up a higher body count than you, Williams," she added, one last acknowledgement of her pride.

"You sure about that? Explain to me why you always use a machine gun instead of a sniper rifle or pistol and usually rely on your biotics in combat? Those warp fields you send out are so big and powerful that you don't even need to aim."

"You can't argue that it's effective, though," came a voice from the doorway. Liara walked towards to the two humans with a slight sway in her hips, and even that subtle movement was enough to get Shepard's attention. Her eyes widened slightly as Liara perched herself on the foot of the mattress. "So, are you two swapping war stories? Or are you doing the women's equivalent of 'dick-measuring'?"

Ashley's jaw dropped and Shepard began to sputter. "Liara!"

The asari frowned. "Perhaps I have been spending too much time talking with my father lately."

"Well, Aethyta did call me an 'anthropocentric bag of dicks' when I tried to convince her to meet you back on the Citadel," Shepard muttered. Liara had let her in on the fact that her father was within the Sol system, although not on earth, to keep an eye on her daughter and the commandos she had gifted her with. Apparently, Jack wasn't the only one they needed to keep an eye on around their daughter if they didn't want her parroting back inappropriate phrases. She could only hope that Liara wouldn't adopt any more of her father's colorful phraseology. "Keep that kind of language up, sugar lips, and I'll have to wash your mouth out with soap."

Liara looked so utterly confused by Shepard's statement that both of the humans burst out laughing. "Another human idiom, I suppose..." she said with a sigh.

"No, it's fairly literal," Ashley said. "My parents did it." Liara wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Really? How unpleasant."

"You can say that again."

The asari was silent for a moment, clearly thinking about something. Shepard waited patiently, knowing that her lover would share her thoughts when she was ready. While she waited, the Commander turned to Ashley. "I've been meaning to ask you something. What's your deal with Miranda? I know you aren't getting along, and since you're both my friends, I want to make sure the two of you can be civil with each other."

Ashley waved a dismissive hand, not caring if the gesture appeared rude. "I just don't like her," she said. "I appreciate that she brought you back from the dead twice and all, but some people just aren't compatible, Shepard. She was with Cerberus. That's all I need to know."

"So was I," Shepard pointed out.

"Yeah, and look at all the trouble you got in to because of it?"

"Miranda risked her life to defy Cerberus. She went to Sanctuary in order to stop her father from turning civilians into monsters. Miranda was the one who tracked Kai Leng's shuttle and got us the data back. You were there on that mission, Ash. You saw first hand what she did for us."

Ashley sighed. Personally, she thought that Miranda had done it for her own redemption, but knew better than to say so. "You have a right to be friends with anyone you want. Doesn't mean I have to like her, too..."

Shepard reached out to grip Ashley's hand. At first, the Lieutenant didn't respond, simply allowing Shepard's touch, but finally she squeezed back. "Ash, Miranda isn't a replacement for you. You're both my friends, and I refuse to take sides on this. If she did anything to cross you, I would have your back, just like I'd do the same for her. You're my squadmates, my friends, and part of my family."

"One hell of a dysfunctional family..." Ashley muttered.

"Well, kinda. But we did save the universe, so we can't be too bad."

Liara, who had stayed silent while watching the conversation, briefly touched Shepard's mind, her irises darkening as she made the connection. _"I believe Ashley is still disappointed that she didn't, as you say, have your six when Miranda helped you defeat the Collectors. If you show her that you trust her, perhaps she can begin to forgive herself. She values your opinion. If you consider her worth having as a friend, maybe she will see the truth herself."_

Shepard replied with a wordless question. How were they supposed to do that?

When Liara showed Shepard her idea, the Commander smiled. Just because they didn't have a picture of the baby yet didn't mean Ashley couldn't get a little preview. She had already had her turn – more than one turn, actually. The others would come later, but perhaps granting Ashley the privilege of being the first besides Shepard to meet their daughter would shore up her self-esteem.

"Hey, Ash," she said, letting go of her friend's hand. "You've been with me from the beginning. I know we had a falling out at Horizon, but you had my back when it counted."

Ashley looked surprised that Shepard had read her thoughts so easily. She didn't know her feelings were that transparent. "I screwed up, Commander. I'm just glad you forgave me."

Shepard grinned. "Hey, Ash, remember how you said you wanted to know what it was like to meld with an asari?" She felt a startled burst from Liara, and then a pulse of wry amusement. Ashley was equally startled.

"Uh... awkward much? That's not exactly what I said," the brunette said hastily.

"I said meld, not join," Shepard laughed. "You know it isn't always sexual. Liara and I talked it over, and we want to show you something."

Liara gave Ashley a smoldering look. "Don't worry," she purred. "I'll be gentle..." It was difficult to keep from laughing at Ashley's flushed face. Her eyes darted from side to side, looking for some avenue of escape. She knew her friends were only teasing her, but that didn't prevent her from being embarrassed.

"Damn, this is worse than when you found me curled up on the floor in the Observation Deck with that empty bottle of booze," she stammered.

"Seriously, Ash, it's important. We want to show everybody, but you get to go first."

Ashley sighed. "When you put it that way... Just don't mess anything up in my head, okay?" she said, a little more gruffly than she had intended.

Liara sat down on the edge of Shepard's bed directly across from the Lieutenant and put both hands on her shoulders, looking directly into her eyes. "Relax... I mean it," she said when Ashley's muscles remained knotted. "Relax and Embrace Eternity..." Liara's eyes flared black as Ashley fell into the darkness.

. . .

 _It was warm, dark, and unfamiliar where Ashley was. A steady, soothing thump beat above her. She felt as though she was wrapped in a heated blanket. But it was hard to take in her surroundings, because she was aware of someone else in her mind. It was disconcerting, not to be alone within herself anymore._

_"Liara?"_

_"Yes. Not so scary, is it?"_

_"Disconcerting," Ashley said._

_"You are nervous because I mapped Shepard's DNA without asking. I like you, Ashley, but not that much. And yes, I owe her an apology and an explanation for my behavior."_

_Ashley started to ask how she knew, and then remembered that they were sharing thoughts – some of them, at least._

_Then, she felt it. The thing Liara wanted to show her. A soft, curious touch against her mind that was all emotion and no words. It was pure love and trust and innocence, and the walls she had built up around her heart to survive the war crumbled._

_"Jesus..."_

. . .

Ashley's eyes snapped open and she gasped. "Oh my God. I _felt her._ I actually _felt_ her..."

Shepard smirked. "Told ya she was pregnant. More than just feeling a kick, huh?"

"That was... that was... wow." She turned to her Commander, then Liara, her heartbeat elevated. "Thank you..." Ashley whispered, knowing that she had just been entrusted with something intensely personal. "I was the first one you showed?"

Shepard heard the unspoken 'why me' in that question. "Because you're my friend, Ash. We'll let the others see, eventually. The close ones... you promise to teach her how to shoot now?"

"Of course. We don't want her turning out like you, Shep." Ashley paused. "But only in the aim department. If she is anything like you in all the other ways, she's going to be amazing."

"You're getting soft on me, Williams. Wanna check out my new foot? You can barely tell they grew it for me."

. . .

"So, how do quarians actually do it? I mean, with the suits..." Jack asked, obviously very intoxicated. Miranda sighed. She hadn't wanted to play babysitter when she suggested they dip in to their limited supply of alcohol, but Jack had complained of being deprived for far too long and imbibed more than her fair share.

"Very carefully," Tali said. She was only slightly less drunk than Jack. There wasn't a lot of turian brandy to go around these days, but after saving the world, Tali figured she deserved a little reward.

"Aw, c'mon. That's not an answer. Does your suit have a, y'know..?"

Tali rolled her eyes behind her helmet. "What, you were thinking we had little flaps?" She took another sip of brandy through her straw, which she had dubbed an 'emergency induction port'.

"I dunno... s'why I asked you."

"We have to take some immune system boosters and herbal supplements, but we usually get sick anyway."

"Damn," Jack said. "That sucks... getting a nasty cold every time you knock boots. Er, suits. Get it? Heh..."

Miranda sighed. "You aren't as funny as you think you are, Jack. Maybe you should slow down with that glass..."

Jack ignored Miranda. "Aw, stop being a buzzkill, Cerbe – uh, Miranda." She knew that after the hundreds of thousands of innocents Cerberus had killed, Miranda hated being associated with them. Jack's habit of using the nickname was hard to break, but she was making an effort. "I was just curious."

"That's why quarians don't usually have casual sex," said Tali. "Not worth the risk. If I'm going to deal with plugged up sinuses, headaches, and possible infections, the sex damn well better be worth it. It doesn't help that life on a ship in the Migrant Fleet is always crowded. Entire families share rooms. Privacy is hard to come by."

"Wow. Glad I'm not a quarian, then. I'd probably kill everyone after a day."

"Miranda would be disappointed." She couldn't be sure, but the ex-Cerberus operative suspected that Tali was smirking at them both behind her visor.

The comment could be interpreted in several ways, but Miranda decided she wasn't in the mood for word games, especially with Tali. She wasn't sure whether the quarian actually liked her, tolerated her, hated her, or a mixture of all three. "How did you know?" she asked instead, hoping to quell any rumors before they spread.

"Jack stares at your ass more than everybody else."

Miranda blinked. "Everybody else?"

Jack laughed, not seeming to care that Tali had figured out their physical relationship. Then again, Miranda thought, that might have been because she was completely hammered. Her opinion could easily change once she was sober. "Yes, princess. Everyone stares at your ass, just like everyone has a crush on Shepard. It's just one of those things..."

"Everyone does not have a crush on Shepard..."

"Yes, they do," said Tali, "and you know it. The only one I haven't caught giving her the 'link suits with me' look is Kasumi, and she had just lost her lover. She overcompensated by flirting with Jacob, but I saw through her."

Miranda was surprised by Tali's insightfulness and honesty, and wondered if that, too, was due to the alcohol. "So, who exactly have you caught staring at my ass?" she asked, partially terrified of the answer.

"I told you, everyone. But Jack stared at it all the time. It was impossible not to notice. So I knew she probably had a better view than most."

"Who else knows?"

"Probably Shepard... she knows her crew."

"And that means Liara knows, too," Miranda added to herself.

"Ah, T'Soni won't say anything. Too much of a prude."

Tali laughed, but forgot to remove the 'emergency induction port' from the slot in her helmet first, causing the sound to be slightly distorted. She removed it after a few failed attempts at positioning her hand. "She's pregnant, Jack."

"How do you think she got that way? Immaculate conception?" Miranda said, unable to resist tossing out a sarcastic quip.

Jack shuddered. "I don't wanna think about it..."

"Really?" Tali asked, obviously surprised. "They're a beautiful couple."

Miranda suspected that she knew the reason behind Jack's discomfort, and her suspicions were confirmed a moment later. "How they look? Yeah, sure. But that mind stuff... freaks me out. Would hate to have someone fucking around in my brain, you know?"

"I think it's romantic. Joining is like linking suits... the most intimate thing your species can give."

"I think this conversation needs to end before the alcohol wears off," Miranda said as she confiscated the glass of turian brandy and the straw.

"No, wait! I don't want it to go to waste, let me finish... The last time I got drunk, it was toasting you, Miranda. I called you a Cerberus cheerleader bosh'tet." Suddenly, the quarian seemed to realize that she needed to be on Miranda's good side if she wanted a chance at the last sip of brandy. "You won't hold that against me, right?"

The brunette human sighed and shoved the glass back at Tali, taking Jack's bottle instead and downing the rest of it before she had a chance to complain. "We haven't had a chance to toast the dead yet," Jack said, all the cheerfulness gone from her voice. Miranda suddenly realized that, over the span of a few seconds, Jack had experienced a large mood swing.

Suddenly, all three women were keenly aware of just who wasn't drinking with them.

 _"Keelah se'lai..."_ Tali murmured as she polished off her brandy.

. . .

"Shepard, now that we're alone, we need to talk."

The Commander had a pretty good idea what Liara wanted to talk about, and she wasn't sure whether she should dive in headfirst or just dip her toes. Eventually, as was her nature, she took the offensive despite being bedridden and injured.

"I want this child, Liara. You know that. I –" she paused for a moment, searching for the words to express how she felt. "I already love her so much, I can't even describe it."

Liara's smile was tinged with sadness, but at least she was smiling, Shepard thought as she stroked her lover's cheek. "She will be a fortunate child, to be born into so much love. She was conceived in love, too. I just wish..."

"Would you do it over again, Liara?" Shepard asked. "You could have told me. You should have told me. I love you and I love our daughter, and part of me understands why you did what you did, but lying to me was wrong."

The asari agreed. "Lying by omission is still a lie. It was deceptive of me to map your DNA without explicitly asking your permission to do so. As to whether I would do it over again in the same circumstances... I am not sure. If you mean, _will I do it again_ , the answer is no. I'm sorry for deceiving you, but I'm not sorry for our daughter's existence."

Shepard held Liara's hand tight, gazing directly into her eyes. "The only reason I'm not angrier is that you know me. All of me. Part of you practically is me, because of our joinings... You knew I wanted children with you. If I had felt differently, would you still have done it?"

Liara looked horrified. "Of course not, Shepard... I suppose I convinced myself that I was just speeding up the schedule in case you didn't come back. But if I had felt even the smallest tendril of doubt, if you hadn't wanted the same thing, I never would have conceived."

"You can't do this again, Liara... Even if we lose this child and another war starts that I might never return from." She felt Liara flinch against her at the mention of losing their child. Shepard felt guilty for bringing it up, but it needed to be said. "It's a breach of trust I don't know if I can overcome a second time. Just ask me... let me know... I could never deny you anything, even something as life-changing as a daughter."

"How bad is what I have done in human terms?" Liara knew that most asari wouldn't have approved of her actions. Perhaps they would have understood the emotional need, but wanting something and taking it were two different things.

Shepard sighed. "Pretty bad. Do you want to see?"

Part of Liara was afraid of what she would find, but she wouldn't be a proper bondmate to Shepard if she didn't own up to her mistakes and take on her share of the pain. There was a human expression about 'marriage': all burdens halved and all joys doubled. It was time to take her half of the burden she had deliberately caused.

Usually, she initiated melds with Shepard joyfully – or hungrily and voraciously, if they were in a sexual situation – but this one was tentative and tinged with guilt and doubt. Liara began feeling worse, not better, when Shepard accepted her overtures and welcomed her within. For the first time, she felt unworthy of being granted access.

_They did not share words. Instead, Shepard was content to let Liara sift through her emotions and experience what she felt. The first thing Liara touched was concern. Concern for her, concern for the baby, and concern for all their missing friends. She wasn't surprised. Shepard was always concerned about something or someone. But beneath that concern was a layer of pain, an emotional wound that made Liara shudder as she brushed against it._

_Even as it hurt her to touch it, Liara knew that her presence soothed the hurt, and so she threw herself forward, trying to make it better, offering any reassurance Shepard would take. She was sure that not all of that pain was her fault. It was too large to be caused by one single event. But the mistrust around the edges... that was her doing. What she had selfishly taken had resulted in something beautiful, but it was still a betrayal._

_When Liara thought that she couldn't bear to be surrounded by such pain anymore, Shepard pushed forward with a golden light that could only be described as love. It filled her with warmth and comfort, and Liara greedily wrapped herself up in it. Like sunlight, like air, like forgiveness. Freedom from sorrow. Shepard loved her, loved their child, and there was no end to her love._

When she retreated, gasping, from Shepard's mind and her normal vision returned, her emotions were a confused jumble.

"Liara, I love you. I love our daughter. I just wanted to be involved in the choice. I haven't had a lot of control over my body the past few years, and then this... I only want you to understand how you hurt me." Shepard reached out to caress Liara's still flat abdomen. "Then we can both move on and get ready for this little one to make her appearance."

Realizing just how close she had come to losing her bondmate's trust, Liara broke down in tears. The last time she had cried was after Thessia fell. There simply hadn't been time since then to mourn the dead or grieve for the peace that had been lost. She had been too busy fighting the Reapers, and then monitoring Shepard's recovery. Now, as she fully comprehended just what she had done, she couldn't hold back her sobs.

"Can I make a request?" Shepard asked, wiping the dampness from her lover's freckled cheeks.

Confused, Liara sniffed and tried to stop the flow of tears. She was unsuccessful. "What?" she asked in a strained voice.

"Next time we make a baby, can we conceive while we're making love? The other way seemed so... quick and unromantic."

Liara started laughing and crying at the same time. "That's what you're concerned about now? Romance?" She couldn't stop the tears as Shepard opened her arms, and she fell into them gratefully. "I don't know... conceiving a child right before the father goes off to save the galaxy is kind of tragically romantic."

Shepard kissed the top of Liara's head and began stroking the sculpted folds at the back of her neck. "I guess it's just that... humans always conceive through sex." She decided not to include all the scientific means for creating a child outside the womb for simplicity's sake.

"I took several imprints of your DNA, Shepard. In fact, the more imprints, the better. When I... you know..." she pressed her head against Shepard's gently massaging hand. "That's what an asari orgasm is. My gift before the final battle was just me, taking one last impression and... finalizing things."

The human still couldn't fully comprehend having so much choice over when and how to begin a pregnancy. "I love you, Liara. And I really am glad we're going to have a daughter. I just know she'll be perfect," she said soothingly as she continued stroking the tendrils at the back of Liara's neck. She felt her lover shiver against her chest and smiled, knowing just how sensitive that spot on an asari's head was. "Do you like that?" she purred, letting her lips trail down from crown of Liara's head to the soft side of her cheek.

"You know I do, Shepard," Liara said, very conscious of the fact that her voice had dropped an octave. "But I suggest you stop before things get... out of hand."

Shepard sighed. "When my body is up to it, I swear, the first thing I want to do is make up for lost time with you, Liara."

The Commander couldn't be sure because of her skin tone, but she was fairly certain that Liara was blushing. "Well then, you are lucky that you are with someone who wants the same things."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm going to be on the radio. n_n I'll be discussing Mass Effect femslash fic with N.Q. Wilder and Sisirongana.
> 
> h t t p : / / w w w . b l o g t a l k r a d i o . c o m / a l l a i n e / 2 0 1 2 / 0 4 / 2 6 / m a s s - a p p e a l - - f e m s h e p - a n d - m a s s - e f f e c t - f e m s l a s h
> 
> Just take out the spaces. The show is on April 25th, but will be there afterward in the archives if you can't listen live.
> 
> And don't worry, I am super busy, but I haven't forgotten about this story. I'm going to finish it, just like I've finished all my other stories (except poor It Happened One Night... aw.)
> 
> Also, beware, there's some pretty intense 'embracing eternity' in the third part of this chapter. Yeah, I can't NOT write smut most of the time.

Tali's eyebrows lifted behind the visor of her mask as an unexpected visitor entered the Admiral War Room. She wasn't alarmed, since anyone that could get past security without being stopped was almost certainly a friend or ally, but she was surprised when she saw who her uninvited guest was. "Good morning, Shadow Broker. What brings you up to the Flotilla? Is Shepard all right?"

"It's just Liara, Tali, please. The other Admirals aren't here. And Shepard is being insufferable, as usual."

"I suppose you can't really be Shadow Broker anymore anyway, with all the Mass Relays gone and the communication buoys out of commission."

The asari nodded. "It truly amazes me that our entire communication network was reliant on technology we didn't understand. Part of this problem is of our own making."

"Is that why Shepard is being insufferable?" Tali asked.

"No. Shepard is being insufferable because she keeps trying to... invite physical attention that she is not capable of handling. I had to get away."

In the past, Tali would have been embarrassed by that topic of conversation, or perhaps a little jealous, but now she was just amused. "Well, she did get you pregnant during a Reaper invasion. Sometimes I wonder about her priorities... Did you leave anyone from the squad to babysit her?"

"I left her with Miranda."

"Miranda? Really? I know Shepard is loyal, but I would be uncomfortable leaving my bondmate alone with the most beautiful human I've ever met after turning her down for a roll on the quilt."

Liara raised her eyebrows at the decidedly quarian expression, and then smirked. "I left Jack with her as well," she revealed.

"So, you left Shepard with the most beautiful human woman I've ever met and the most insane human woman I've ever met. If that doesn't show trust, nothing will."

"Trust, or a profound lack of judgment. I probably don't want to know what kind of trouble Jack is encouraging Shepard to get into right now. Anyway, I'm here to talk about the Mass Relays. I might have some data that could help you."

Even though the visor hid Tali's true facial expression, Liara could hear her voice light up with excitement. "What kind of data?"

"Remember when Shepard, Ashley, and I completed the mission on Ilos? The Prothean VI, Vigil, said that the scientists constructed a miniature, prototype Mass Relay: a back door into the Citadel. He gave us a data disk before we went to stop Saren."

"Did that disk have schematics for the Mass Relays?" Tali asked, trying not to get her hopes too high.

"Yes. Of course, since we already had an entire system of working Mass Relays at the time, I didn't think that studying the information was urgent. That was a mistake."

The quarian frowned. "It's been almost three months now, Liara. The quarians and turians have already gone through a large portion of their supplies. Why didn't you bring this to our attention earlier?"

Liara didn't seem offended by the question. In fact, her expression was a little regretful. "It was all written in Prothean. Vigil included a program to help with the translation, and Javik modified it on the Normandy, but I had to do a great deal of the work myself, and I am not what you would call fluent in the language. It wasn't easy. The Prothean written language is from one of their early periods, since their later technology allowed them to share memories, concepts, and data through touch."

"Like the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime?" Tali asked.

"Yes. Beacons, memory shards... Very little was actually written down. Perhaps they transcribed their blueprints into the old language, knowing that the species of the next cycle might not evolve with the same unique capabilities."

Tali couldn't help asking another question. "Weren't all of your computers on the Normandy?" Liara nodded. "Then why do you still have the disk?"

"I don't. I have a copy. Several copies, in fact. I might have started my career as an archaeologist, but I learned a thing or two as an information broker. The first rule of information brokering is to never talk about information brokering. The second rule is always back up your data. If you lose it, you lose all your contacts, leverage, and credits."

The asari reached into the pocket of her lab coat and handed Tali a disk. "Here are the schematics, freshly translated into multiple languages, including English and Thessian just to name a few. They are incomplete, but I believe the scientists and engineers that were working on the Crucible will be able to make use of them."

For the first time since the defeat of the Reapers, Tali allowed herself to feel optimistic. With intergalactic travel reestablished, the quarians and turians could find other planets capable of supporting dexro-protein species. And if Garrus was alive out there – he had to be alive – rebuilding the Mass Relays would allow her to search for him and the rest of the Normandy's crew.

"Finding the materials should not be difficult. There is always plenty of Eezo around, even in this system. We can use what is left of the Reapers and the scrap metal from the Citadel to build the braces. We'll need to find a chemist to analyze the metallic formula... Wait, why did you give this to me? Me, of all people?"

Liara blinked. "Because you're my friend?"

"Besides that."

"Because you are one of the highest ranking quarians on the Migrant Fleet now?"

Tali tucked one foot behind the other and bowed her head slightly, embarrassed at the reminder. "Oh, yes. Sometimes I forget."

The asari smiled and gave the quarian's upper arm a gentle squeeze. "You earned it, Tali, even though it might not feel like that right now. I can hardly believe how much has changed in the past few years."

Instead of reflecting, Tali headed over to the nearest terminal and inserted the data disk, typing away at the flat, light-based, touch-sensitive keyboard. "I'll forward this information to Admiral Hackett, Dr. Cole, and the remaining scientists from the Crucible project. How many credits do you want to wager that my inbox will be full of questions in the next ten minutes?"

"I wouldn't waste my credits on a bet like that." Liara didn't mention that, essentially, the credit system was currently inoperable. People had resorted to something similar to the barter system. Ships, food, weapons, medical equipment, and other resources were the new currency. Hopefully, once communication was reestablished, she could access the fortune she had made while working as the Shadow Broker again. If she had been able to, though, she would have bought stock in Eezo mining companies. She had a feeling they were going to need a lot of Element Zero to fill the Mass Effect cores once they were ready to be built.

. . .

"And she cut you off?" Jack exclaimed as Shepard finished her story. "That sucks, Shep. Is it because she's knocked up?"

"No," the Commander pouted. She wasn't normally the type to complain, but it had been frustrating watching Liara slave over data tablets and mutter under her breath about conjugating verbs while she was trying to get her bondmate's attention. "She claims she's 'busy', but that's bullshit."

"Maybe she actually is busy," Miranda suggested neutrally.

"No. She's just handling me with kid gloves. I don't know what she thinks she's going to do. Almost burn me alive, stop my heart, and break my new foot off again? Been there, done that."

The ex-Cerberus operative frowned. "I spent a lot of time, money, and effort putting you back together, Shepard. Both times. It wasn't easy. I expect you to take better care of your body on the third go-around."

"Shepard knows how to take care of her body," Jack said, nudging the Commander's side with her elbow. "She just wants to take it for a test drive. Right? Gotta make sure everything is working properly. Liara's a scientist, she should go for that. Just call it an experiment."

"Liara is right here, and currently wondering why you three are gossiping like a bunch of young Huntresses on leave." The asari stood in the doorway, arms crossed, her foot tapping on the tiled floor. "Especially since I have been sending messages to your Omni-tool for the past hour."

With a sheepish look, Shepard retrieved her Omni-tool from the bedside table. It had several unanswered messages from Liara, in addition to correspondences from Tali, Admiral Hackett, Wrex, and several other high-ranking military leaders. "Do you want to explain why everyone wants to talk to me all of a sudden?" the Commander asked, her forehead creasing. The last thing she wanted to hear was more bad news. Aside from her reunion with the remainder of her squad, Liara's pregnancy, and her medical progress, almost all of the news she had received lately came in flavors of bad, worse, and worst.

"Well, while I was slaving over data tablets instead of servicing you, I might have been able to translate the schematics for the miniature Mass Relay we found on Ilos."

Shepard looked appropriately cowed. "Heard all that, did you?"

Jack rolled her eyes. "Worry about your lover's tiff later. Did it work, T'Soni? Will everyone be able to go home?"

"It's too soon to say, but we're closer now than we were before."

Even Miranda seemed excited by the news. "Congratulations, Liara. Maybe your daughter will be able to see Thessia after all."

"I do not think it is a matter of 'if' we can rebuild the Mass Relays, but 'when'. I have almost nine hundred years left to wait, but the turians and quarians do not have the luxury of time. The krogan, the salarians and the asari can adapt to Earth's ecosystem, but there is no way one small planet devastated by war can sustain us all. That was the reason humans took to the stars in the first place."

"I've never been to the home planet until now," Miranda admitted. In the past, she wouldn't have revealed personal information about herself so casually, but for the first time in her life, she had friends to confide in. "I wish I could have seen it before the destruction."

"London, maybe. Not the Seattle/Vancouver megalopolis," Shepard said, a shadow crossing her face. "It wasn't so bad when I came back to stand trial, but before... that's where I grew up. Wasn't so pretty then." Now, the Reapers had leveled it to the ground. The city where Shepard struggled to survive during her childhood was completely destroyed.

Liara moved to stand beside the bed, threading her fingers through Shepard's hair. She adored playing with her lover's hair, partially because the soft texture was so alien to her. "We will rebuild it and make it better. This is humanity's chance to create the Earth they dreamed about for their children."

"Yeah, yeah, you should be on motivational vids," Jack mumbled, but Liara could tell that she was still pleased at the thought of Mass Relay travel being reestablished.

"If the Mass Relays do come back up, where do you think you'll go?" Shepard asked Jack and Miranda. To be honest, she wasn't sure where she would go, aside from searching for her missing ship and crewmembers.

The Commander wasn't too surprised to see Jack look at Miranda instead of answering right away. "I don't know," Miranda said, a slight wrinkle marring her perfect complexion as she thought about it. "When I haven't been dashing around the galaxy trying to save my sister, my place has mostly been by your side. Before that, it was with Cerberus, but that's a past life I don't want to revisit."

Jack had a clearer idea of what she wanted to accomplish now that the war was over. "I want to re-found Grissom Academy. But," she cast a sideways glance at Shepard, "it doesn't have to be in the same place. That old station was useless anyway. For now, I guess I'll start on Earth."

Shepard was flattered and a little frightened by the notion that Jack might be sticking around longer than she had expected. On the one hand, Jack was her friend and ally. On the other, she had a baby on the way, and there were no bad guys for Jack to blow up with her biotics when she wanted a little stress relief. Hopefully, if she helped rebuild Grissom, her excess energy would be put to good use instead of causing trouble for Shepard.

Suddenly, Shepard realized that she hadn't thought to ask Liara what she wanted. She didn't know, and that bothered her, since she almost always knew what Liara would think about any situation. "What about you, Liara? Where do you want to go?"

 _'Wherever you go.'_ Shepard blinked. "Let's just take things as they come," Liara suggested aloud. "I think all of us agree that our top priorities are fixing the Mass Relay system and trying to find the Normandy."

"You know what sucks?" Jack said. "We did it. We destroyed the Reapers and saved Earth. But it doesn't feel like we've won yet. If we don't fix the Mass Relays, we're all fucked."

As indelicately as she had put it, the other three had to admit that Jack was right. The truth was that there were at least six civilizations – more, if you counted the elcor, hanar, and volus military forces – trapped on one dying planet. Unless things changed, they were all just dying a slow death. The storm was gone, but their ship was still lost at sea.

"We have a plan of action now," Shepard said, instinctively trying to boost her squad's morale, even though they weren't technically her squad anymore. "The Mass Relays will be rebuilt, and if we've proven anything during this war, it's that we're a hardy bunch. If the Reapers couldn't stop us, a little thing like physics won't stand in our way."

Liara decided not to comment on Shepard's lack of respect for the 'little thing' that was physics.

. . .

"Shepard! What are you doing?" Liara cried out, throwing up her hands and rushing forward to grip her errant bondmate's arm. "You are not supposed to be out of bed!"

"Aw, c'mon, Liara," Shepard said, giving the asari her best puppy dog eyes. "I'm still in my room... I just wanted to stand and test out my new foot."

"That new foot is why you are not supposed to stand," Liara pointed out. "There might still be complications while your nerves are rebuilding themselves."

"But it feels fine..." the human protested.

"That isn't the point. You could cause yourself irreversible damage by walking around too soon, and that isn't even taking your other injuries into consideration."

Shepard rolled her eyes. "What if I hopped on one foot?" she asked, balancing on her good leg with her arms outstretched, teetering slightly back and forth.

"Goddess, that's even worse, you stubborn... get back in bed. Now," she added firmly when Shepard didn't move.

Sulkily, the Commander limped back to her bed and sat down on the mattress, slouching over with her elbows on her knees and holding her chin in both hands. "I'm just so bored!" she complained. "I know I wanted a peaceful life after the war, but I didn't count on being trapped in a hospital bed for over three months."

"Beds can be very useful," Liara pointed out, sitting beside Shepard and squeezing her thigh just above the knee. "You do enjoy lying in them from time to time..."

"With you. Naked. Doing other things. Not lying by myself staring at the ceiling."

Liara thought about that. "Will your hospital prison sentence be more tolerable if I join you?" She didn't bother waiting for Shepard to answer. Instead, she began taking off her lab coat. Shepard's eyes widened. Three months without the union was far too long in her book. That probably wasn't what Liara had in mind, but her heartbeat thumped faster anyway.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," the asari scolded as she shimmied out of her pants, even though she was secretly pleased. She hoped Shepard would continue to find her desirable when she really started to show. For now, her figure was mostly unchanged.

"Can you blame me?" Shepard felt her mouth go dry and moisture flood to other parts of her body as Liara pulled her undershirt over her head. She glanced one last time at the door to Shepard's private room, and since there was no lock, she used her biotics to move two chairs in front of it. There always seemed to be chairs in Shepard's room, since so many people kept coming to visit. She hoped that no one got the urge to check in on them for at least the next half hour.

"I waited two years for you to come back from the dead the first time, six months while you were imprisoned before your trial here on Earth, and three more now. You were dead or unconscious for the majority of the two year and three month periods, so you have no right to complain."

Shepard was barely listening to Liara. Instead, the human's eyes were glued to her breasts, which were capped with dark blue nipples that were slightly longer and thicker than her own. Realizing that Shepard's attention was focused elsewhere, Liara stopped her monologue and crawled into bed beside the distracted Commander, burrowing under the covers. "Lie down," she instructed, draping one bare arm over Shepard's hip when the human obeyed. "You should have no reason to leave your bed now."

Instead of lying complacent while Liara spooned her from behind, Shepard flipped underneath the asari's arm and turned to face her. "If you're trying to encourage me to be less physically active, you're doin' it the wrong way," the Commander said, cupping Liara's chin and leaning forward for a kiss.

The asari gave in, but only for a few moments. Kissing Shepard was something she had missed while the human recovered, and now that she was awake, Liara intended to take full advantage. "Your body isn't ready for that kind of exertion. However, there is nothing wrong with my body..."

Shepard blinked, not fully understanding, until Liara leaned close to whisper in her ear. When she listened to her bondmate's suggestion, her eyebrows flew up in surprise. Asari and human physiologies were remarkably similar, given that they had evolved light years apart. Liara had theories about that; either a common spacefaring ancestor, heavy genetic modifications from the Protheans, or both, but despite the similarities, there were still some key differences. Aside from the obvious ones – their blue skin, their sculpted crests – there were other, more subtle variances that couldn't be seen with the naked eye.

"But you told me you can't..." Shepard still didn't fully understand why asari couldn't climax without the union, since they had mostly the same parts with only a few minor differences. Still, the possessive side of her couldn't help enjoying the fact that Liara needed her to orgasm. Ego probably had something to do with it.

Liara began pressing kisses all over Shepard's face, which had escaped the final battle relatively undamaged this time. The superficial bruising was almost completely gone, but Liara kissed it anyway, underneath Shepard's cheekbone, along the side of her cheek, and trailing down to her lower jaw. The scars on Shepard's face from the first Lazarus project were gone, but Liara distinctly remembered where they had been, and brushed her lips over that spot out of habit.

"I can if I join with you. You will feel everything I feel."

That was another key difference that came with having an asari lover. When they joined, Shepard felt her own touch while she was making love to Liara, and they always released together. There were moments when she loved the extra stimulation, and moments when it frustrated her because it disrupted her concentration (probably the ego thing again). But what Liara was suggesting would allow her to share in her lover's pleasure without moving a muscle. If she could manage to hold still while Liara touched herself, anyway...

Before she realized what was happening, her hands were caressing Liara's inner thighs, and the asari had to gently guide them away. "At least let me hold you," Shepard pleaded, not even trying to hide the begging note in her voice. Liara rolled over onto her side and let out a happy sigh as she snuggled back against her bondmate's soft chest. Since Shepard was wearing only underwear and a clean white hospital shirt, she could feel the warmth of the human's legs tangling with hers, their knees bending together.

At first, Liara wasn't sure how to begin. They had never done anything like this together before. But then Shepard began kissing her throat, nuzzling behind one of the sensitive folds there and occasionally nibbling with her teeth. Her breath hitched. "Mmm... Just doing a little of this won't set back my recovery, right?" Shepard purred, her breath skating over the wet patch of blue skin that her mouth had just abandoned and making Liara shiver.

"N-no, I don't think so." She always loved it when Shepard paid attention to her crest, especially the sculpted dips and folds that began behind her head and extended down along the sides and back of her neck.

"You don't need to be shy," the Commander whispered. "It's just me."

Taking that statement as tacit permission, Liara reached out to brush against her lover's consciousness, her eyes flaring black.

_So warm, so safe and familiar in Shepard's thoughts. Like coming home. Minds touched, welcoming each other with an invisible embrace._

The love and openness of their bond satisfied the human for a little while, but soon she began feeling restless again. She laced her fingers through Liara's and slowly guided both of their hands down the asari's stomach. A brief pulse of fear mixed with excitement shivered across the bond. Even though she had been the one to suggest this, it was outside the realm of Liara's sexual experience, and she was slightly wary.

_And then Shepard was there. Reassuring. Coaxing._

Liara let out a low hum of pleasure as their joined hands cupped between her parted thighs. With the meld, it was almost difficult to tell their hands apart. Eventually, Liara had to look down and see which one wasn't blue in order to move Shepard's hand out of the way. The human protested across their mental link.

_'Please. Want to...'_

It was hard to come up with reasons to prevent Shepard from touching her, especially since she could feel her lover's need flaring within her. But it was the principle of the thing. If she let Shepard break this rule, the human would keep looking for excuses to break others until she was skydiving from the few London skyscrapers that hadn't been blown to rubble instead of recuperating.

 _'Close your eyes...'_ Liara thought within Shepard's mind, but felt strong resistance to that idea. If she couldn't touch, the human at least wanted to see what was happening.

Liara couldn't deny her lover that small consolation. She allowed Shepard to watch from over her shoulder as her hand moved back between her legs. It felt good, better than she expected, and it was her eyes that closed instead. Her head tilted back, resting against Shepard's shoulder as her lips parted to take in a ragged gasp.

At first, Liara tried to touch herself as she knew Shepard enjoyed being touched. One of the many benefits of the union was knowing exactly where to focus, how much pressure and speed to use, exactly which seductive phrases to whisper. But then Shepard's teeth grazed her exposed throat, and the human's hand covered hers again despite her protests.

_Encouragement. Love. Desire. The desire to help. For Liara to be selfish, to take her own pleasure. A jumble of touches and scents and sounds and memories._

Liara swallowed, working moisture into her dry mouth. Her body felt like a livewire, tingling with the knowledge that she was completely exposed to Shepard's gaze. It had been too long...

 _'It's okay...'_ Shepard thought as she kissed the asari's shoulder, still intently focused on the hand moving beneath hers. She could feel Liara's knuckles shifting against her palm and her wrist flexing. _'Just do what feels good to you.'_

It was difficult to remember what 'you' meant. She and Shepard were so tightly bound that parts of them were melting in to each other, indistinguishable, unable to be separated. Liara knew that Shepard was feeling everything she felt, experiencing it almost as intensely as a real, physical touch.

Shepard gasped as she felt Liara enter herself – _enter them_ – with two fingers, giving in to her own desires and just hoping that her lover was along for the ride. 

Despite the new touch, Shepard forced herself not to abandon the physical world and get lost in the meld. That happened sometimes – their hearts bled together until their physical senses were useless, simply too much for their already overworked nervous systems to handle. Often, they returned to themselves to find their bodies in a position they couldn't remember using, or in a different part of the room altogether. Fortunately, they never wandered more than a few yards... that would have made their time on the Normandy embarrassing, to say the least.

Shepard didn't want that to happen this time. She needed to see the enraptured expression on Liara's face, to hear the soft, low sounds she made when she found a spot she liked. She wanted to absorb all of it, the physical part, and know that it was for her.

Even though she knew she wasn't supposed to be "helping", Shepard couldn't resist sliding her fingers through Liara's heat, gathering some of the wetness she found there and using her slick fingertips to circle the hard, curved ridge just above her entrance. It was similar to a human clitoris, and even looked fairly like one, with a protective hood and sensitive tip, although the shape was slightly different.

That got Liara's full attention, but she couldn't bring herself to protest this time. She had expected to be more in control, to simply use her body as a vehicle to give Shepard the physical experience she had been longing for without causing her lover further injury. But the union didn't work like that. She should have known better.

Her mind reached out to Shepard's, clutching it for comfort and reassurance like a warm hand. _Safe. Holding Shepard and being held by her always made her feel safe._

Liara let out a choked sob, wanting to push deeper, to complete the meld. But part of her still felt guilty. The last time she had reached deep enough to draw from Shepard's genetic material – and deep enough for both of them to release – she had mapped Shepard's DNA without asking. Guilt made her pull back.

_'Do it. For me. I trust you. Besides, it's not like you can get even more pregnant...'_

The asari almost laughed, but the laugh turned into a squeak as Shepard's thumb glided over her again, teasing her for just a moment. Her own fingers curled inside herself, causing the human's hips to shift behind her.

_'Are you sure?'_

_'Yes. I'm sure.'_

_And then there was no I anymore. Only we and us mattered. 'Shepard' and 'Liara' were meaningless distinctions. There was only one being between them, one heartbeat, one breath, one soul._

In the physical world, both bodies shuddered and crested, clinging tight and moving frantically against each other. If Liara had been aware of what was going on, she would have protested, worried that Shepard might make her injuries worse, but she was too consumed by pleasure to know or care.

They held each other, physically and mentally and spiritually, until the pleasure bordered on pain and they were forced to back away. "Wow," Shepard panted breathlessly when her words returned. Her fingers weren't the ones embedded within Liara, but she could feel the asari's slick inner walls shuddering with aftershocks anyway. Her own pulsed in response. "God, I can still feel you twitching..."

Liara couldn't talk. Her thighs were closed tightly around both of their hands, afraid that if she moved even an inch, she would be overcome by pleasure, pain, or both. She took in large gulps of air, her torso expanding as her heart threatened to pound out of her chest and her lungs burned.

"That's it, baby. Breathe... I've got you."

The first time Shepard had called her 'baby', Liara responded with confusion. She still didn't completely understand how the human word for infant doubled as a term of endearment for one's lover, but she had grown used to it, and even enjoyed it. Shepard couldn't really explain it, except to say, _"it means I love you and want to take care of you."_ That had been enough. She loved Shepard and wanted to take care of her, too.

"Hon, can I have my hand back?" Shepard asked, gently tugging at her trapped fingers.

It took Liara a moment to collect her fuzzy thoughts, but then she opened her thighs and released both of their hands. "Oh! Of course, I'm sorry..."

Shepard began pressing open-mouthed, wet kisses to the tendrils at the back of her neck, and used her now free hand to caress Liara's lower abdomen. "We're gonna have to train our kid to knock as soon as she starts walking," the human teased. "Wouldn't want her to accidentally catch us embracing eternity."

Liara wasn't as concerned. "For a species that engages in sex so frequently and enthusiastically, humans certainly have a lot of hang-ups about discussing it. For asari, the joining is something beautiful, not a source of shame. It would be embarrassing if she caught us, but not the end of the world."

"You can give the sex talk, then, because I don't want to. If she asks me, I'm telling her about the stork."

"The – what? Oh..." Liara decided that Shepard's kisses were a lot more interesting than finding out what a 'stork' was, or what it had to do with reproduction. She filed the question away for later, and then moaned as two wet fingers tweaked the tip of her right breast.


End file.
